"The NHL is a little fraternity. The coaches and GMs are always moving around from team to team, and they gave Jim a bad rap. It's unbelievable that Jim's not in the NHL. But if you got jerked around for two years, you'd get tired of it, too.''
Carey got so tired of the games being played with his career that he had Lawton, a nine-year NHL veteran who was the top pick in the 1983 draft, decline all offers last summer.
"When the Blues said they couldn't keep Jim on their NHL roster after they had said they would, that might have been the final straw,'' Lawton said. ``Jim worked out a little bit that summer and then he told me, `I don't want to do this anymore.'
"I was getting a few feelers from teams, but they were all looking for a No. 3 goalie. I wouldn't have let that keep me from my passion, but Jim didn't have that instinct. He had other ideas about how he could spend his time. He went back to Wisconsin so Stephanie could finish her degree, and then they moved back to the Sarasota area.
"Jim made $800,000 or $900,000 the year he won the Vezina and then he signed a four-year, $11 million contract. And Jim has done so well with his investments that he doesn't have to work. He's working on his business degree at the University of Tampa and looking to get involved in the financial world. It's disappointing that Jim didn't persevere because he still had a lot to give to the sport. Despite everything that had happened, 24 was too young to leave hockey.''
Befitting his loner mentality during his playing days, Carey hasn't spoken to Howard or Sauer in months. None of his former teams knew his exact whereabouts. And despite encouragement from Lawton, Carey declined to be interviewed for this story.